Means for protecting vessels against submarines.



J. A. STEINMLTZ.

MEANS FOR PROFECTiNG VESSELS AGAINST SUBMARINES. .avmcmou man 0CTfl3 19w.

1,253,295. Patented Jan. 15,1918.

UNITED OliFli /lil JOSEPH A. BTEINIYIETZ,

OF PHILADELPHIA,

PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR PROTECTING VESSELS .iiflZ-lAINST SUBMARINES.

Specification cit Letters Patent. Patented Jan, 15 1918,

Application filed October 13, 191?. Serial No. 196,427.

To all whom it may c'oncelm Be it known that I, J osnrn 18.. some METZ,

of Philadelphiag m ihir'eonnty ciflhiladel phia and State of Pennsylvania,'have in vented certain new and useful Improve ments in Means for Protecting Vessels Against Submarines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing. I

Since water is incompressible and resists instantaneous movement like a solid of equal weight, the explosion of a submerged tor pedo cannot displace the water mass in and below the plane of explosioinbut can and does tear out and shoot upward, with most destructive force an inverted water cone having its apex at the point of explosion.

The object of this invention is to cause approaching torpedoes to explode at such point that no portion of the attacked ship 'lies Within the cone or most dangerous region, and to cause. this-explosion by ship-borne devices which offer great resistance to rolling motion of the ship and but little resist ance to its other movements.

, In the accompanying drawings,

. Fi ure 1 is a si e view of a vessel provide with one form of my devices. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same structures.

Fig. 3 is an end view showing a difierent form of the attachment.-

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a third form of the attachment.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 isa partial plan view of the de'- vices of Fig. 1.

Inthese views, 6 represents the hull of a ship having secured to each side slightly below the water line a very large straight steel tube 7, preferably divided transversely into sections, open at its ends andextending nearly from end to end of the hull. The diameter of each tube is; eat enough to protect the greater part 0 the subm'er ed portion of the hull from near the water ine to the region of the keel so that no torpedo moving horizontally can strike the shi at any pomt below the bod of the hull, w ere lifting force would be 'atal, and, while of comparatively thin nietal, the tube 1s rigid enough to cause the explosion ofiany ordinary contact-detonated torpedo which may strike it, and such explosion will occur at such distance 'from the ship as to make serious inj ury to the latter improbable. The tubes being of substantially uniform diameter and open at the ends the ofi'er'comparatively small resistance to a .vance in the water, even when provided with internal braces 8, and matter to secure them rigidly in place although they are light. It is to be noted that when in place they virtually broaden the hull very materially and have a steadying efiect many times that of fin keel construction.

Instead of using cylindrical tubes, tubes 9, Fig. 3, may be formed with the hull as one side, the tube sheets having their widely separated upper and lower margins 10, 11, attached to the hull and bodies of the sheets being carried outward and returned by smooth curves. In this form also, the tubes may have internal braces 12, 13, preferably located in but few planes to minimize resistance to advance in the water.

If desired, the tubes of either form may.

their form makes 'ita simple.

when the tube conforms to the hulls curva- I ship, of large approximately horizontal open tubes secured to the sides 0 the hull, respectively, and extending nearly the length of the hull and from near the level of the water line to the region of the keel, said tubes nearly the whole length of the ship, to a distunce approximately equal to their 'verlieal extent.

I In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

JOSEPH A. )TEINMETZ. 

